Battle of Mayi
| Battle of Mayi | |
|---|---|
| Part of the ) | |
| Result | Aborted by Xiongnu retreat |
Wang Hui
Han Anguo
Li Xi
Li Guang
Gongsun He
The Battle of Mayi (
Background
Before the Battle of Mayi, there had been two main encounters between the Han Chinese and the Xiongnu. During the
After Emperor Gao's humiliating defeat at Baideng by Modu in 200 BC, the newly established Han dynasty was forced to resort to an appeasement policy in order to decrease the scale of Xiongnu hostility, as the nation had yet to fully recover from the attrition of the Chu-Han contention. However, despite the periodic gifts and heqin ("peace through marriage"), border townships and villages were still seasonally ravaged by nomads, as the prosperous Han Chinese lands remained attractive to Xiongnu raids.
After seven decades, the Han dynasty had built up its military strength.
Ambush
In 133 BC, at the suggestion of Wang Hui, the minister of vassal affairs, Emperor Wu had his army set a trap for the
The plan failed, ironically, because the Han arrangement was made excessively attractive. When the Shanyu took the bait and moved in for a raid on Mayi, he saw fields full of cattle but with no herders. Feeling increasingly suspicious, the Shanyu ordered his men to halt their advance. Xiongnu scouts then captured a Han soldier from a local outpost, who disclosed the entire plan to the Shanyu. Shaken with shock, the Shanyu then abandoned the raid and withdrew quickly before the Han forces could act. The Han forces were scattered at this point, and unable to concentrate in time to catch the Xiongnu. Wang Hui, the commander of the entire Han operation, had only 30,000 troops under his direct command, too few to stop the Xiongnu from retreating to the steppe, so he hesitated and ordered the Han forces not to pursue. As a result, neither side suffered any casualties.
Aftermath
Back at the imperial court, Wang Hui's political enemies blamed him for the plan's failure and his reluctance to pursue the retreating Xiongnu army, and had him
Though border military clashes had already continued for decades between the two sides, this "battle" ended the de jure "peace" between the Han and Xiongnu. The ambush operation revealed the Han dynasty's
The result of the battle made Emperor Wu realize the difficulty for the traditionally chariot/infantry-orientated Han army to achieve tactical superiority against the more mobile Xiongnu cavalry. This led to a change in Han strategy and hastened the development of an effective cavalry doctrine.[citation needed] In later campaigns, the Han dynasty went from a defensive-counteroffensive stance to an offensive strategy of launching expeditionary warfare deep into Xiongnu territory.
The failure of the Mayi operation also prompted Emperor Wu to reconsider his choice of commanders. Disappointed at the ineffectiveness of existing generals, Emperor Wu began to look for younger generations of military hopefuls capable of offensive anti-cavalry warfare. That led to the rise of famous new-generation tacticians like Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, and old-school commanders like Li Guang and Han Anguo began to fall out of favor.
References
- Ban Gu et al., Hanshu. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1962. ISBN 7-101-00305-2
- Sima Guang, comp. Zizhi Tongjian. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1956. ISBN 7-101-00183-1